Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1887-04-07
NELSON'S BEGINNING.
THE STEPPING STONE. TO THE
SINGERS FUTURE CAREER.

A Young violinist Accompanying Her
Own Voice at q Village Fair-Laying
the Foundation of the Great Prims
Donna's Fortune.
In little hut among tall pines on the es-
tate of Count Hamilton, in Wex1o, IN
Sweden, the hut, consisting of two rooms,
belonging to poor forester, on Aug. 20, In the
year 1913, was born a little tow headed girl,
the youngest of seven children, who never
spoke unless especially questioned, but con-
tinually sang trying TO initiate the birds or
the murmuring of the waters-in fact, obey
ing an inner impulse to initiate the great
models of nature, never having heard any
thing else. The Sjoabohl (hamle1 of Snugge,
to which the part of the forest belonged
where she had first seen the light of day, was
a few miles distant from Wexio, and the
highest ambition of the poor children was to
be able to get to the fair of Wexio and earn a
few pence somehow in that great town Of
some 1900 Inhabitants. In order to reach
that glorious result, little Christine, who had
taught herself to play on a small fiddle which
belonged to her elder brother, and which you
can see any day you please in the magnificent
mansion she has built for herself in South
Kensington, entered into partnership with
her brother, who was already her inferior as
a violinist, and they started out together for
the celebrated Wexio.
AT VILLAGE FAIR.
On they went, per pedes apostolorum, until
they reached, on their way, Ljung-by (by
means village), where there was held q small
fair, and where the young violinist accom-
panied her own voice in the few Swedish
national songs she then had heard and re-
tanned in her precocious memory. With
great pride she relates that this, her first open
air concert, brought her the treasure of
threepence half-penny, forewarning her of
the untold wealth which awaited the children
at the town fair. Thither, then, they re-
paired with all the courage that success,
glory and money can give, and arrived little
tired, but hopeful, at the fair. There was
suddenly big audience, who wondered if
the violin played Christine or Christine the
violin. When the admiring crowd assem-
bled it attracted the attention of Mr.. Tor
nerhjeim, the provincial judge, who tried to
find out, as every one of us would, what was
the matter. Well, fortunately for the great
singer, the judge, man over six feet high,
looked over the shoulders of the people at the
little girl who formed the center of attrac-
ton; and then he saw and heard, over and
above the scraping Of the little fiddle, what
he thought the sweetest and most enchanting
timbre of voice he had ever heard before
A highly educated man, and accustomed TO
read In the physiognomy Of the people who
were brought before him their character and
probable capabilities, he spoke first to the
boy, then to the little girl, and there and then
laid the foundation of the great prima donna's
fortune by the present Of untold wealth-a
aKpence. Christine, already frightened with
Sse responsibility of carrying her Ljung-by
funds, suddenly grown rich beyond her ex
pectations, with great irmness insisted on
their immediate return to the only place
where so much money could safely be in
vested or deposited-their fathers hut.
THE TOILET DEJoUR-
You can see in one of Christine's great
salons the little skirt which did not descend
to the ankle, the toilet dejour of her first con-
cert, minus the least bit of shoes or stock
ings; and the cherished portrait of two bons
paysans Suedos-father and mother-in a
rich gold frame, which cost more than long
series of concerts at that time could have
brought her.
Although not quite so rich as she became
earned with her first success in public to her
father, who saw, real and alive, nine and one
half pence, the product of two concerts, in
his daughters little hand. Strange as it may
appear, the great success and the great flnan-
cial result remained for few days without
any further consequences; when, just as a
second artistic journey was contemplated, the
aforementioned judge, who naturally had
had some difficulty in uhearthing the where
abouts of his small prima donna, came
straight upon her father and asked him
would he allow his honor the provincial
judge to take temporary possession of the
youngest child, and if she were found to be SO
intelligent and gifted as she was supposed to
be, to give her the education which would
perhaps make the name of little Christine
somewhat better known. The father referred
him to the mother, as every well bred father
will, and the mother, with that abnegation
that makes Of motherly love the only reli-
able, never-to-be-found-wan love in the
world, instantly consented to separate her
self from her child-a youngest child to boot
80 long as that sacrifice could do the child
any good This little preliminary arranged,
the first important step in Christines life was
made.-Louis Engels From Mozart to
Mario"